Video: Coach Taylor is BACK! (Sort of)

To alert people to just how damn serious they are about keeping people off their phones, Drafthouse dipped into the war chest to pay Kyle Chandler to reprise his role as Coach Taylor – for a minute, at least.

Rich Rod’s 13 best quotes from Pac-12 Media Days

You know all the best coach quotes in college football by now. Steve Spurrier and Bret Bielema in the SEC, Art Briles in the Big 12, Dabo Swinney and Paul Johnson in the ACC, Jim Harbaugh and James Franklin in the Big Ten and Mike Leach in the Pac-12. Those guys can all spin a good yarn and captivate an audience for sure, but in today’s world where media days are covered by hundreds of outlets and every quote is tweeted six times, their 20 minutes at the podium ends up being overhyped more often than not.

One guy that always delivers the goods and doesn’t get credit for it? Rich Rodriguez. Rich Rod spoke at Pac-12 Media Days in Hollywood on Friday, and I dare say he provided more soundbytes per answer than any of his peers.

Here are Rich Rod’s 13 best quotes from earlier today:

1. “Refreshing? I think a nice cold beer or a Bacardi and Coke, or maybe even a nice iced tea sweetened is refreshing. What was the question again? – On returning Anu Solomon at quarterback.

2. “I’ve also heard rumors that cost of attendance is being paid for years at certain schools, it just wasn’t legal. You know what I’m saying? But I don’t think it’s a big deal.” – On if he thinks Cost of Attendance scholarships will have a big affect on college football.

3. “He said why don’t you let your quarterback call the plays? And I said I’ve got a pretty big mortgage payment, I don’t want to let a kid that watches SpongeBob SquarePants on Saturday mornings calling the plays. Are you kidding me? Not that it’s SpongeBob SquarePants, but he doesn’t have the time to watch the film that I do.” – On why he calls plays.

4. “Did you see the movie Lion King? There is a point in the movie where the monkey hits the lion over the head. He said, what did do you that for? And the monkey says it, doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.” – On moving on from consecutive losses to Oregon and Boise State to close the 2014 season.

5. “Hell, I’m trying to get a first down in a first game. I don’t think when you line up middle of the fourth quarter and it’s hot and you’ve played 200 plays already and the guy’s worried about crossing the line. Wondering I wonder if we’re getting respect as the Pac-12 south? Hell, just try to get the first down and get a stop.” – On if he thinks the Pac-12 South gets enough respect nationally.

6. “There was some poll, I don’t know, some expert poll that gave us a 2% chance, is that what it was? Hey, it’s like that dumb and dumber. What are the chances of me, a guy like me getting with a girl like you, like one in a hundred? One in a million? More like one in a million. So you’re telling me there is a chance. So 2% is better than one in a million, right?” – On Arizona being picked fourth in the six-team Pac-12 South.

7. “There is one more guy to yell at that won’t listen to you. I quit yelling at officials anyway because one, they’re usually right, and two, they can’t hear you anyway because of the crowd noise, so it’s pointless to do that. I thought it probably appeases the fans if you think it’s a bad call and the coach is yelling at them, but I don’t do that too much anymore.” – On the addition of the eighth official.

8. “I always brought seniors and there is nothing wrong with bringing underclassmen. But I thought maybe if I didn’t bring him he would want to come here so bad next year that he’d come back for his senior year.” – On why he didn’t bring Scooby Wright, the best returning defensive player in college football and a junior, to media days.

9. “It’s just convincing them, hey, take a side trip, go to Vegas and take a right.” – On getting players to visit Tucson.

10. “Yeah, a security blanket sounds a little too intimate. I don’t know about that.” – On if wide receiver David Richards could be a security blanket for the Arizona offense this season.

11. “You ever get on the 405? Hell, I don’t have to do it every day, but there are a lot of folks.” – On the numbers of talented quarterbacks coming out of the West.

12. “I always tell our guys, it’s checkers not chess. You don’t have to think six moves ahead. You only have to think two moves ahead and you’ll be okay.” – On how he coaches his quarterbacks.

13. “Yeah, I was miserable for a month.” – On ending the season with a loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

#TakeASide: Barry Alvarez believes coaches should play a role in the admissions process. Is he right?

If you’ve coached college football, chances are really good that you’ve spent hours and hours on the phone getting to know a kid and his family only to be informed that he didn’t get into school based on a series of numbers and figures that the admissions department looks at.

And if you’ve been in those shoes, you can understand how frustrating it can be to see a player that you felt was such a good fit – for both your football program and university – land somewhere else.

This past off season, Wisconsin has lost a small few rather high-profile recruits to other schools because they weren’t granted admission into UW. According to athletic director Barry Alvarez, coaches used to be able to appeal those decisions to the individual college that the student was applying to, but since the hiring of a new undergraduate admissions director in 2010, that process has changed and now all appeals are seen by the UW Admission Department with no input from the coaching staff.

“You had coaches who knew student-athletes and recruited them and had been through the screening process,” Alvarez told the Journal Sentinel. “They’ve done the screening. That is what we try to emphasize. Our coaches understand the profile of our incoming student-athletes, and they feel that certain people will have success or have a chance for success and they can present that case because they know they have researched these individuals.”

“Now, when it goes to Admissions they don’t talk to the coaches. They look at scores. They look at numbers. They look at whatever they see. We’re discussing with our administration going back to the way we did it, where we take our appeals to the individual colleges rather than through Admissions first.” Alvarez added that they hope to have a new system in place, where the input of coaches is taken into account, by next season.

Is this just the byproduct of the recent frustration that the Badgers were unable to get a few student-athletes they had targeted as the right fit for the program into school? Or does Alvarez bring a valid argument to the table here?

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, Alvarez does have a very good point because the fact remains that coaches get to know the student-athletes better than anyone in the admissions department, and the decision from admissions is based on numbers, not the person involved.

“I think it is only fair to our coaches and some student-athletes and our coaches that their stories should be heard,” Alvarez shared.

I’d enjoy hearing from programs on both sides of the fence on this issue. If you’re at a program where you get input with your admissions department, or your admissions department makes the decision 100% on their own with no input from your staff, let me know how things are going and what you’d like to see change at Doug@footballscoop.com or on Twitter at @CoachSamz.

Jim Harbaugh gave the most Jim Harbaugh answer ever at B1G media days

USATSI

Without a doubt the most anticipated arrival at Big Ten media days — heck, any media days — was new Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. Not only does Harbaugh have a resume that dwarfs most of his competition, he has a reputation for giving zany quotes.

Like this one.

Harbaugh: “As excited as I’ve ever been for the start of football season.” Why? “I say that every year.”